Is it just me, or does it seem like trying to start healthy habits come with annoying or negative consequences?
Just a few examples...
I was told that reading at night before bed helps with getting to sleep faster. I tried this last night, but there was a very limited selection of books in the house, so I asked Alex what book I should read.
"Oh! Read that series I had from high school, under the TV."
This book is called The 5th Wave. If you have heard of it, it is a book about aliens coming to earth... or something. I have only read the first few chapters so I am not quite sure myself!
This seems like a good idea, right? I should be able to get some sleep from this, right?
Well, it DID technically work, I was out like a light after I finished reading.
HOWEVER, I had a pretty horrible dream last night about some crazy person killing someone I knew and loved! This just happened to be after reading a book that related a similar event where the narrator kills some random person in the third chapter!
Okay, to be fair, maybe I should have put more thought into what GENRE of book to read before sleeping. Needless to say, I woke up to my alarm clock at 6 am quite terrified, so at least the nightmare kept me from snoozing my alarm and going back to bed...
How about another "healthy habit" to start, drinking lemon water in the morning. Need I say more? It is just hot water with lemon in it... which makes for a sour, bitter drink. Sure, I could have added honey to it, but the website I read encouraged JUST lemon... I was able to keep this "healthy habit" for about three days, but it was disgusting and ruined those three mornings!
I do not care what health benefits that bitter, nasty detox water gives you... coffee is where it is at.
Along the lines of the lemon water experience was the detox cleanse. This could range from three to fourteen days, and I failed every time. You see, a detox is supposed to "cleanse" your body from, well, all the toxins... I guess that was pretty self-explanatory. It also starts your body off on the right foot when trying to eat healthier foods, maximizes your tasting senses when eating food, and does plenty more beneficial things I am forgetting.
Anyway, these detox foods come in the form of watery smoothies, which cost a FORTUNE to buy the produce for! (The first time I tried this, my mom bought all the groceries. Thank GOODNESS!) Essentially, you pay for a butt-load (pardon my strange word choice) of fruits and vegetables and shove portions of them at a time in a Ninja blender to come out with this smoothie that is not filling whatsoever. They should really just say the detox is a "starving cleanse". Oh, but if you are still hungry, feel free to eat a bowlful of broccoli... straight up. No ranch or any dressing whatsoever.
Yum.
NOT!
By the end of perhaps two days, after you put all those fresh foods on your grocery bill, you go out and buy a cookie dough roll and chow down to reward your body for sticking it out those two days. In fact, you eat more out of that cookie dough roll than you ever have in your life because your were SO HUNGRY! So perhaps the cleanse does help to "maximize" your tasting senses for food, because that cookie dough tasted so darn good.
Now all I can think about is cookie dough...
Anyway, there are countless other examples I could give of those "healthy habits" I try to start that eventually crash harder than an avalanche, but there is ONE habit I can say works for me every morning without fail:
READING MY BIBLE!
God promises that when we seek Him, He will not return void. I am always learning more every time I go to His Word, and though there are some days I am more consistent than others, I see the lasting effects of Scripture ruling my life, and I see the consequences when I stray. This is the one habit I never have to lose trust in, and I hope this is the same for you as well!
-Grace B.
P.S.
Never read thrillers before sleeping, drink hot lemon water, or go on a smoothie detox cleanse. ;-)
Just a few examples...
I was told that reading at night before bed helps with getting to sleep faster. I tried this last night, but there was a very limited selection of books in the house, so I asked Alex what book I should read.
"Oh! Read that series I had from high school, under the TV."
This book is called The 5th Wave. If you have heard of it, it is a book about aliens coming to earth... or something. I have only read the first few chapters so I am not quite sure myself!
This seems like a good idea, right? I should be able to get some sleep from this, right?
Well, it DID technically work, I was out like a light after I finished reading.
HOWEVER, I had a pretty horrible dream last night about some crazy person killing someone I knew and loved! This just happened to be after reading a book that related a similar event where the narrator kills some random person in the third chapter!
Okay, to be fair, maybe I should have put more thought into what GENRE of book to read before sleeping. Needless to say, I woke up to my alarm clock at 6 am quite terrified, so at least the nightmare kept me from snoozing my alarm and going back to bed...
How about another "healthy habit" to start, drinking lemon water in the morning. Need I say more? It is just hot water with lemon in it... which makes for a sour, bitter drink. Sure, I could have added honey to it, but the website I read encouraged JUST lemon... I was able to keep this "healthy habit" for about three days, but it was disgusting and ruined those three mornings!
I do not care what health benefits that bitter, nasty detox water gives you... coffee is where it is at.
Along the lines of the lemon water experience was the detox cleanse. This could range from three to fourteen days, and I failed every time. You see, a detox is supposed to "cleanse" your body from, well, all the toxins... I guess that was pretty self-explanatory. It also starts your body off on the right foot when trying to eat healthier foods, maximizes your tasting senses when eating food, and does plenty more beneficial things I am forgetting.
Anyway, these detox foods come in the form of watery smoothies, which cost a FORTUNE to buy the produce for! (The first time I tried this, my mom bought all the groceries. Thank GOODNESS!) Essentially, you pay for a butt-load (pardon my strange word choice) of fruits and vegetables and shove portions of them at a time in a Ninja blender to come out with this smoothie that is not filling whatsoever. They should really just say the detox is a "starving cleanse". Oh, but if you are still hungry, feel free to eat a bowlful of broccoli... straight up. No ranch or any dressing whatsoever.
Yum.
NOT!
By the end of perhaps two days, after you put all those fresh foods on your grocery bill, you go out and buy a cookie dough roll and chow down to reward your body for sticking it out those two days. In fact, you eat more out of that cookie dough roll than you ever have in your life because your were SO HUNGRY! So perhaps the cleanse does help to "maximize" your tasting senses for food, because that cookie dough tasted so darn good.
Now all I can think about is cookie dough...
Anyway, there are countless other examples I could give of those "healthy habits" I try to start that eventually crash harder than an avalanche, but there is ONE habit I can say works for me every morning without fail:
READING MY BIBLE!
God promises that when we seek Him, He will not return void. I am always learning more every time I go to His Word, and though there are some days I am more consistent than others, I see the lasting effects of Scripture ruling my life, and I see the consequences when I stray. This is the one habit I never have to lose trust in, and I hope this is the same for you as well!
-Grace B.
P.S.
Never read thrillers before sleeping, drink hot lemon water, or go on a smoothie detox cleanse. ;-)
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